Trial reportScientific reports2020
Immune dysregulation among students exposed to exam stress and its mitigation by mindfulness training: findings from an exploratory randomised trial.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on inflammaging: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Biogerontology · 2025Pooled it
- Only Small Effects of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Biomarker Levels of Inflammation and Stress: A Preregistered Systematic Review and Two Three-Level Meta-Analyses.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in adults in nonclinical settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.PLoS medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Impacts of the Mindfulness Meditation Mobile App Calm on Undergraduate Students' Sleep and Emotional State: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Altered states of consciousness caused by a mindfulness-based programme up to a year later: Results from a randomised controlled trial.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Modulation of IL-1β and TGF-β1 Gene Expression in Stress-Induced Depression Rat Supplemented with Malaysian Acacia Honey.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of Mind-Body Interventions on Immune and Neuroendocrine Functions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Mindfulness-Based Interventions and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis: A Systematic Review.Neurology international · 2024Review
- Individual participant data systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials assessing adult mindfulness-based programmes for mental health promotion in non-clinical settings.Nature. Mental health · 2023Article
- Utilization of Mind-Body Intervention for Integrative Health Care of COVID-19 Patients and Survivors.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Article
- The Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation on Trait Mindfulness, Perceived Stress, Cortisol, and C-Reactive Protein in Nursing Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Advances in medical education and practice · 2022Article
- Viral Respiratory Infections: An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Innovations, quality & outcomes · 2021Review
- Coping with COVID-19 in an international border region: health and economy.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2021Article
- COVID-19 Spotlights Connections between Disease and Multiple Lifestyle Factors.American journal of lifestyle medicineReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Psychological distress persisting for weeks or more promotes pro-inflammatory immune dysregulation, a risk factor for a range of chronic diseases. We have recently shown that mindfulness training reduces distress among university students. Here we present an exploratory trial to study immune dysregulation in a cohort of students who were exposed to progressively greater stress as the exam period approached, and to explore whether mindfulness training mitigated this dysregulation. Healthy University of Cambridge students were randomised to join an 8-week mindfulness course (N = 27), or to mental health support as usual (N = 27). Psychological distress, immune cell proportions, cytokines, CRP and serum cortisol were measured at baseline and during the exam period. Increased distress was associated with statistically significant increases in the proportion of B cells, regardless of trial arm (*p = 0.027). There were no other associations between any of the measured parameters, distress or mindfulness. Our finding that the proportion of B cells increases with psychological distress supports the findings of other studies. However, we found no evidence that mindfulness training is able to buffer the effects of psychological distress on healthy participants' immune system. In order to detect these effects, should they exist, larger randomised trials will be required.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.